Neil Channing bulldozed his way through the field on Sunday and now sits atop the leaderboard heading into the final day of play at the 2008 Irish Poker Open. Exact chip counts have not been released as of yet, but it appears as though Channing has about 2.8 million in chips heading into the final day of play, which would be more than double his next closest opponent. Donal Norton looks to be in second place with about a million in chips.

The event, which has a 200k euro overlay, will pay out 800k euros to the first place winner. All six remaining players in the tournament are guaranteed at least 135k euros.

The six remaining players are:

Neil Channing (chipleader)

Tim Blake

Kai Paulsen

Thomas Dunwoodie

Edwin Troupier

Donal Norton

Carsten Joh was the 7th place finisher in the event. He was eliminated after moving his short-stack all-in with A-Q offsuit. Donal Norton was committed to the pot and called with his pocket threes, which held up.

Sorel "Imper1um" Mizzi wasn't able to duplicate his success in last year's tournament. Mizzi was crippled after getting into a confrontation with William Martin. Mizzi raised to 26,000 preflop and Martin called on the button. After a flop of 7-J-Q, Mizzi checked, Martin bet out, Mizzi came over the top and Martin eventually called with his A-Q. Mizzi flipped over J-K and wasn't able to improve. Mizzi was crippled and exited the tournament shortly after.

Another high-profile player, Padraig Parkinson, went out in 25th place after getting into a pre-flop raising war with Willie Haughley. Parkinson held pocket jacks, but Haughley held pocket Queens and received an unnecessary queen on the flop. Parkinson was severely crippled and went out shortly after.

The last high-profile player left in the tournament was eliminated shortly after Parkinson. Surinder Sunar pushed all-in holding pocket sevens and was called by the A-6 of diamonds of Donal Norton. The flop brought high cards and the turn made the nut straight for Norton, eliminating Sunar from the tournament.

This was a very long day of play as they had to play down from over 50 players to just six. Action stretched far into the night, and it will be interesting to see if fatigue is a factor on the final day of play.